Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Home Brew Beer, RV Style

Yes, you can brew your own beer in an RV. Perhaps you cannot
make 5 gallon/50 bottles batches, but you can make some of the best brew
possible. All you need to do is downsize things just like we all did when we
moved into our RVs. But I am getting
ahead of myself, how did this idea of brewing beer in an RV come about?

I was still in contact with some of my prior co-workers,
when one of the guys had just started home brewing in a small condo and
suggested I do the same in the RV. I
explained that storage was a problem in the RV, and he said he had the same problem
at his place and was making small, one gallon, batches. After a short discussion of the ins and outs
of small batches, he offered to bring his equipment over to the RV and make a
batch with me. Well, Elliot and I had a
great time making beer in the RV, and I realized this is something you could do
in an RV. The final product was unbelievable…I honestly said “I cannot believe
I made beer better than I can buy!” Elliot also brought up the idea of coming
into a new RV Park or boondock site and inviting the people next door over for
a home brew!

What a great ice breaker to
meet the people next to you. I only have Elliot to thank for this great idea
and some of the best beer I have ever drunk.
We will stay in contact, and I always consult the Beer Dr. when I make a
change to one of his/our recipes or need a how to.

The equipment needed can be minimal or as elaborate and
expensive as you can imagine. Below you can see I started with a minimal set of
two 10-12 qt pots, one 2 gallon drink cooler, immersion cooler and a few other
items, well less than $100:

When making beer, the number one ingredient is water and
what better place to make beer than Oregon.
We are currently staying in northern Oregon; above the 49 parallel where
a fresh water artesian well brings in the best possible water from Mt. Hood. Before making beer, we make sure the water is right for our brew:

Once the water is tested, it’s time to make beer. Following our recipe, we make our wort in a
2 gallon sport drink cooler

The wort takes 60-90 minutes, depending on what beer we are
making. Once it is complete, it’s time
to extract the wort, leaving the grains behind.
We do this with a stainless steel filter attached to a liquid on/off
value connected to the cooler and drain into our boiling pot.

The Fifth-wheel entry steps are perfect for this providing
just the right ladder effect for draining.

Following our recipe, we boil the wort for 60-90 minutes, and
add hops according to the recipe schedule.

After the wort has boiled for the allotted time, it’s time
to cool it as quickly as possible. This helps prevent any airborne
microbes from contaminating our batch. I use an immersion cooler and our pure Mt. Hood, Oregon
55 degree water.

Once the wort is cooled, we pitch the yeast and store it in
our primary one gallon fermenter for about one week to let the wort settle and the
krauesen form at the top of the fermenter and the hop particles and dead yeast
will form trub at the bottom. This is what is should look like after one week:

Next, we transfer our wort to a secondary fermenter, away from
the krauesen and trub, letting the beer clear further. This is also where we dry hop the brew. Dry
hopping is a new means to add hop flavor and aroma, without adding bitterns.

You’ll notice a hop bag used for leaf hops at the top of the
fermenter. The bag lets the hop oil drain from the leafs and buds, without clouding
up our batch. We then let the beer settle for another week in the secondary,
then into the bottles for a minimum of two weeks to carbonate and settle
further. We use a 48 qt cooler in the “basement”
of our fifth-wheel to store the bottles, that keeps them at a more constant temperature
and out of the way. Then after waiting, and waiting for our brew to perfect, we
finally get to drink some of the best beer money can buy:

So as you can see, making home brewed beer in an RV is easy
and simple. You just have to downsize
the batch size and all falls into place.